The latest move is philosophically the most significant so far, as long as the IOC backs its words with action if necessary.

In the aftermath of the controversy over having the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics in a country, Russia, with anti-gay laws that mocked the Olympic Charter’s language about non-discrimination, the IOC has changed its host city contract to include the same language.

That means future host cities, beginning with the host chosen next year for the 2022 Winter Olympics, will sign a legal document saying they will follow Fundamental Principle 6 of the Olympic Charter, which reads:

"Any form of discrimination with regard to a country or a person on grounds of race, religion, politics, gender or otherwise is incompatible with belonging to the Olympic Movement."

The three 2022 candidate cities, Oslo, Beijing and Almaty, Kazakhstan – and the IOC members in those countries – were told about the changes in a Sept. 16 letter signed by Christophe Dubi, the IOC Olympic Games Executive Director, and Howard Stupp, the IOC Director of Legal Affairs.

(See related items for the letter.)

"(This) sends a clear message to future host cities that human rights violations, including those against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people, will not be tolerated," said Andre Banks, co-founder and executive director of All Out, one of the groups that led the outcry against Russia’s anti-gay legislation.

The trick now will be to see what kind of hammer the IOC can wield should a country pass discriminatory laws, as Russia did, after one of its cities has been chosen as an Olympic host. Enforcing the contract with the threat of losing the Olympics becomes nearly impossible in the final three years before the Games in question.

"We haven't seen the exact language of the revised host city contract, but we would hope that failure to adhere to the provisions would result in moving the Games," said Hudson Taylor, executive director of Athlete Ally, another group that led opposition to the Russian law.

The IOC letter to the 2022 candidates also addressed a small piece of an area Bach has vowed to change: costs of staging the Games.

No further changes to the sports program of a particular Olympics can now be made unilaterally by the IOC after the meeting in which the host city for that Summer or Winter Games has been chosen. That means cities will not be faced with “material adverse effects” of staging new sports or events within sports unless the host agrees.

After Russia spent an estimated $51 billion on the Sochi Olympics, the issue of cost clearly frightened away potential bidders for 2022, even if most of the $51 billion was spent on infrastructure that may not all have been necessary for the Winter Games and some undoubtedly was lost to corruption.

Those cist numbers also have created widespread opposition in Norway and could scuttle the Oslo bid, which would leave the IOC to choose between a party dictatorship (China) or an individual despot (Almaty).

In December, the IOC is to vote on a number of proposals designed to reduce the cost of not only staging the Games but bidding for them. Those proposals were generated by Agenda 2020, a Bach initiative designed to promote discussion and a plan for the future of the Olympic movement.